Crafts

Handprint Leprechaun Art Project

This leprechaun handprint craft is a simple project to make for St. Patrick's Day.

What You Need

Orange paint

Paints in skin-tone colors

Paper plates, one per student or table group

Paintbrushes

Scissors

8.5- by 11-inch white paper, one sheet per student

9- by 12-inch green construction paper, one full sheet per student, plus additional sheets to be shared among several students

9- by 12-inch black construction paper, each sheet to be shared among several students

Glue

Yellow buttons or round stickers

Black markers or crayons

Optional: Shamrock stickers

What You Do

Pour equal amounts of skin-tone and orange paint onto paper plates so each student or group of students at a table has access to all colors.

Help your students use the paintbrushes to paint one of their hands. They should paint their four fingers orange and their palms a skin-tone color, then add a bit of orange paint to the bottom edge of their palm. Do not paint thumbs!

Have your students carefully place their painted hand on the 8.5- by 11-inch white paper, then lift the hand directly up to leave a handprint. Set the handprints aside to dry.

After washing their hands, students should cut a hat shape, as shown in the picture, out of one of the sheets of green construction paper.

Have the students cut a small strip from the black construction paper. The strip should be as long as the top part of the hat, as it will become the black band shown in the picture.

Help your students glue the black strip to the hat.

Students can glue a yellow button or place a round, yellow sticker in the middle of the black strip.

Once the handprints are dry, have the students glue the completed hat piece onto the top of the leprechaun handprint.

Have your students use black markers or crayons to draw a face on the skin-tone section of the leprechaun.

Help your students frame their craft by gluing the white paper onto the middle of a full 9- by 12-inch sheet of green construction paper.

Students can write "Happy St. Patrick’s Day" on the white paper near the image.

If you have them, hand out shamrock stickers for your students to use to decorate the crafts.